More than 600 people have objected to plans to knock down the old Bristol Royal Infirmary building and build student flats.

The plans to replace the former hospital building on Marlborough Street with a nine-storey, 715-bed student block have attracted 601 objections from residents and businesses.

The plans, submitted by student accommodation provider Unite, are for a seven, eight and nine-storey building on Marlborough Street with 715 student bed spaces, communal areas and a central courtyard.

Designers also want to build another four, five and six-storey building to the rear with offices and/or a medical school, as well as a shop.

The back of the old Bristol Royal Infirmary site (Image: David Betts Photography)

Plans include underground car parking for 17 cars and 457 bicycles.

Unite says the new development could generate up to 280-300 jobs in the area.

In documents submitted to the city council, the company says: “Students and new workers will increase economic activity in the area, which will serve to benefit local retail and commercial facilities in the area such as the retail function located towards Christmas Steps Arts Quarter.”

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But some businesses on the Christmas Steps don’t agree. A resident’s group calling itself Christmas Steps Arts Quarter (Residents and Traders) was one of the 601 objectors to the plans. The group put forward a string of objections to the “monolithic” size and appearance of the building and the “growing armies” of students “causing a considerable nuisance and disturbance to our residents as they noisily pass through the Christmas Steps Arts Quarter”.

Unite manages several large blocks of student flats in Bristol, including Waverley House on Queen Charlotte Street

The group also says it wants to see affordable houses or key worker flats rather than more student blocks in the city, to keep a balanced community.

“Bristol has an acute housing crisis and the provision of student housing is helping the university expand its numbers and see more homes being passed over to student accommodation,” the group said in a statement. “As almost all students only stay in purpose-built blocks for one year, 715 homes will create a need for 1,400 homes around Bristol in the following two years. Student housing is also exempt from making a contribution to affordable housing, unlike other housing developments, and student housing is also exempt from council tax.

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“Student exemptions currently cost Bristol City Council £9.5m per year in lost income, a growing student population means more cuts to council services.”

Both Bristol University and the University of the West of England have said they want to increase student numbers. Unite says the extra students have to live somewhere

The plan replaces a previous scheme for an even bigger development, 20 stories high, with 738 student beds, almost double the amount of office space - which would have included a new company headquarters for Bristol-based Unite – and a medical school.

These plans, which would have retained the former BRI building, were rejected by councillors – against the advice of planning officers.

Designers say the new, smaller, development has a “more congruous relationship with immediate townscape and improved relationship to adjoining heritage assets”.

Unite bought the site in 2015 and has been putting forward proposals ever since.

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A spokesman for Unite said: “The development of the BRI site, which was declared surplus to the NHS’s requirements and then bought by Unite Students, will help meet the growing demand for accommodation from Bristol’s population of students.

“In order to ensure it’s available for the start of the 2020 academic year, we have recently submitted a second planning application, which is designed to meet the council’s objections to our original plans and comes in the wake of over two years of consultation about the site’s future with the council’s planning and design officers, statutory consultees and heritage bodies.

“We share the local communities’ disappointment that our original application to retain the old BRI and chapel was rejected and are currently appealing the council’s decision to refuse our original application.”